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It’s not hard to come up with something new. It’s hard to come up with something new that people want.

I think that is kind of the separation point between having lots of ideas or creating lots of stuff, and just having maybe one thing that really resonates with people that they have that Ah-Ha moment when they see it.

~ James Carnes, Global Creative Director, Senior Vice President of Design at Adidas.

What a great discussion! I particularly like how it was not the usual boring discussion on creativity, for example techniques on coming up with great ideas, but a more controlled application of creativity that is validated with customer insights.

Do enjoy this video with a cup of coffee and look out for a bunch of other really great quotes by James such as:

There is an expectation of the event itself (i.e. brainstorming workshops) will inspire greatness…actually it is the hard work (i.e. user research) before, the uncovering of things that have not been uncovered. Again it might be the obvious things, things that we have been ignoring, or really deep insights…

The big breakthrough moments aren’t things that just happen, they are actually things that have been building up.

If you listen to consumers and what they say, and you are a slave to what they tell you…you will never get beyond what they are not saying…

Indeed, as James says, the act of creativity is piecing together these unrelated moments into something amazing. This is why I do what I do. When this moment happens I can feel my adrenaline running through my veins. How about you?

Comments

[…] How Creativity Works This is a must watch video with James Carnes, Global Creative Director, Senior Vice President of Design at Adidas. He busts a lot of the myths about creativity and acknowledges that brainstorming and focus group sessions are rubbish developing fresh ideas. He also discusses the best kind of working environment to foster for designers to get the best work out of them. […]

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